You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown
You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown is the eighth prime-time animated television special based on Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts, and the tenth one to air. It originally aired on CBS on October 29, 1972. Plot Sally Brown walks home from school in a rage, complaining that she can not open her locker because she can't reach it. Charlie Brown tells her that he will help her reach her locker, but Sally says he hould also help her with something in school. It turns out, Sally wanted to use her brother for show-and-tell. After that, Charlie Brown sees a poster that says "Student Body President Election". Linus thinks that would be a good job for Charlie Brown, but Lucy says that she took a poll and confirms that the students would not like Charlie Brown as president. She says they need a new candidate, and Sally suggests Linus as a better one. Lucy then surveys many children in the school, and asks then whether or not they would vote for Linus. She finds one child, who says he would 'not '''vote for Linus. Lucy tries to convince him, but he refuses to change his mind. It is then revealed that that the boy is student named Russell Anderson, opposing Linus. So Linus signs up as a candidate. Lucy asks Charlie Brown to help her get orginized. Charlie Brown asks Snoopy and Woodstock to help him assistant Lucy. Later Lucy and Snoopy set up a school talk show so students can call in and ask Linus questions. The first person asks, "What is our president gonna do about the rivers?" to which Lucy replies, "Rivers? Our school doesn't have any rivers?" The second caller keeps talking until Lucy gets bored and hangs up. The next caller is calling for Harold, and Lucy tells him he has the wrong number. The fourth caller keeps going on about how good his question is, but then realizes he has forgotten the question. Later that day, at the final election, Lucy mentions that Linus is ahead in the polls, and will probably win, unless he does something wrong. Russel goes up to speak first. He says he would like to be president, then walks off. Lucy then whispers to Patty, "The election is ours. That was the worst speech I've ever heard." Then, it was Linus turn. He comes up and says he has a great speech coming up, but first, he would like to take a minute to speak about "The Great Pumpkin" at which everyone starts laughing. Linus then walks off saying "I've blown the elections". Lucy (after she calls Linus a blockhead) says Linus might still have a chance. He is tied with Russel. Linus wins the election by one vote–84 to 83–the deciding vote cast by Russell, who has decided that Linus is, in fact, better for the job. Following his victory, Linus goes to the principal with the intention of keeping his campaign promises and laying down the law, only to be taken aback with the realization that he is still strictly subordinate to the faculty and in fact, like most student government positions, has no real power. Regardless, Sally has a fit and accuses him of selling-out like all other politicians. She then kicks the bottom of her locker and walks away, not realizing that she has finally opened it. Orgins The plot of ''You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown was taken from a story that ran in the comic strip in October 1964, in which Linus runs for school president with Charlie Brown as his running mate. In the original storyline, Linus loses the election after bringing up the Great Pumpkin in his final speech and being laughed off stage, again after leading in the polls at the time. Notes *This special is the first television appearance of Woodstock. *The special was also the debut of Snoopy's student alter ego, Joe Cool. Peanuts musical score composer Vince Guaraldi gave Joe Cool his own theme song, featured prominently throughout scenes in which he appears. Voice cast *Chad Webber - Charlie Brown *Hilary Momberger - Sally Brown *Stephen Shea - Linus van Pelt *Robin Kohn - Lucy van Pelt *Brian Kazanjian - Schroeder *Todd Barbee - Russell *Linda Ercoli - Violet *Bill Melendez - Snoopy/Woodstock *Vince Guaraldi - sings Joe Cool External links *[http://comics.com/peanuts/1964-10-06/ The October 1964 storyline from the Peanuts comic strip on which You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown was based.] *[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069525/ You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown at the Internet Movie Database.] Category:TV specials